Covid-19 has upended the lives of us all, and Francis O'Dwyer and Ian Power are just two examples.
The lifelong friends from Carrickbeg in Carrick-on-Suir were living in Dublin at the time of the first nationwide lockdown in March 2020.
Life was very different then, with 9-to-5 office jobs and a genuinely active social life all part of their everyday reality.
They were working for multinational companies but, thanks to the pandemic, had to pack up their bags and come back to Carrick.
While both initially planned on heading back to Dublin within a few short months, they have been able to remain working remotely and have decided to stick around.
"I would have never thought I would have had an opportunity to come back. The jobs that I wanted were only in Dublin," said Francis, "When I moved to Dublin first I was living on the outskirts and then after three years he decided to move actually into town and pay the higher end, whereas in Waterford you have that luxury of being in the centre of town, close to nice coffee shops, restaurants and bars, and also nice perks like the People's Park in town. So just to have that at your doorstep and not paying crazy prices is definitely the appeal for Waterford."
Similarly for Ian, remote working has been embraced and he has been enjoying being back home, whether taking advantage of the Blue Way cycle route or being back with his family.
"Initially, nobody knew how long this would go on. So I think our our employer wanted us back in the office as soon as possible to get kind of some form of normality back. But when they saw that the work was being done . . . that we're working well, then they see that the work is being done."
However, the chief executive of the representative body for over 130 tech companies in the South East has said the aftermath of Covid is set to be a "double-edged sword" for employers in the region.
Elaine Fennelly says that almost half of the 130 tech companies in the group she has surveyed have lost senior staff recently, with work-from-home one of the key reasons provided.
While she believes that the region can now hold onto more talent by companies moving to work-from-home models, she fears Waterford employers may lose out and will "need to step up to the mark" to prevent Dublin or Cork-based companies poaching senior hires.
"Crystal Valley Tech's position is that the more people we have engaged in tech, regardless of who is signing their paycheck, the better it is for the region. And it also puts a huge responsibility on local employers to really get their act together and start thinking, how am I going to compete if Dublin firms are going to be paying 20 percent more? How am I going to compete with us? Am I going to give them greater work experience and job satisfaction, and potentially maybe pay them more? It could well cause some wage inflation in the South East."
She added: "I think for employees in the region, it's nothing but opportunities. Because if you've got skills, you can work from home, you can now work for a Waterford company or you can work for a Dublin company, you can really work for anyone. And with that comes more choice, maybe a higher salary.
"But for employers, it's a double edged sword because if I'm running a tech firm in Waterford, I now run the risk of losing people who will now work for companies that may pay them more.
"And in an environment post COVID, where it's hard to embed your culture and to really focus on job satisfaction in the office, you know, maybe employees won't be as loyal as they have been in the past to their employers. So I know a lot of companies are already experiencing a loss of some of their stuff and they're very concerned about it."
